Nigeria earned $677bn from crude oil sales in 18 years

A new audit report by Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative (NEITI) has revealed that Nigeria earned as much as $677.9 billion,
between 1999 and 2016, a period of 18 years, from the sale of crude oil
produced from oil fields in the Niger Delta region.

This was contained in a statement released yesterday by NEITI’s
Director of Communications, Dr. Orji Ogbonnanya Orji, which also included the
total financial flows from Nigeria’s oil and gas sector in 2016 into the
account of the federation.

According to NEITI, the 2016 audit report was the latest of its
audits of financial flows from Nigeria’s oil industry, adding that its
calculation showed that the highest revenue of $68.44 billion the country
earned from oil came in 2011, while its lowest of $8.07 billion was gotten in
1999.

NEITI tabulated the country’s oil earnings within the period,
pointing out that in 1999, Nigeria earned $8.07 billion; $15.81 billion in
2000: $15.91 billion in 2001; 2002 was put at $11.87 billion; while 2003
earning was $17.08 billion.

The agency revealed that in 2016, there was a decline in
earnings by 31 per cent over the $24.79 billion generated in 2015, and a 75 per
cent plunge on the sector’s peak earnings of $68.44 billion generated in 2011.

In addition, NEITI noted the 2016 figure was the lowest in 10
years and the fifth lowest in the 18 years covered by its audit reports so far
between 1999 and 2016.

The plunge in revenue in 2016, the agency further stated,
resulted from low oil prices in the global market and reduced oil production in
Nigeria, which was caused by disruption of activities, and vandalism of oil
assets and spike in crude theft, among others.

It stated that yearly average price of crude oil per barrel, was
$43.73 in 2016 as against $52.5 in 2015.

The statement further added that total oil production in 2016
was 659 million barrels as against 776 million barrels produced in 2015,
representing a fall of 15 per cent.

It also stated that losses due to crude oil theft and sabotage
rose from 27 million barrels in 2015 to 101 million barrels in 2016, which was
an increase of 274 per cent.

“This was aside losses due to deferment, which in 2016 was put
at 144 million barrels which also went up by 65 per cent when compared to the
87.5 million barrels in 2015.

“The bombing of the under-water 48-inch Forcados oil
loading/export pipeline was one of many major occurrences that befell the
industry in the year under review,” the NEITI said.

It explained: “This incident occurred in February 2016 and the
line remained in-operational for seven months. Shell Petroleum Development
Company (SPDC) declared force majeure on lifting from Forcados on 21st February
2016. Companies injecting into the Forcados Terminal such as Seplat, Pan-Ocean,
Midwestern, Energia, Platform, Pillar, Waltersmith, and Excel shut down
production for over 147 days.”

In addition, the agency disclosed that the Shell Petroleum
Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) declared force majeure on the Bonny
Terminal due to a leak in Nembe Creek pipeline between May and July 2016 while
the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) declared force majeure on the Brass
Terminal between July and August 2016.

Similarly, NEITI explained that Mobil Producing Nigeria
Unlimited declared force majeure twice between May and June, as well as July
and October 2016.

“This was due to a drilling process disruption and damage to the
QIT loading system. MPN’s total production within the four-month period was
4,616,825bbls, which is less than half of what was produced in each month
previously as reflected in DPR reconciled sign-off records,” it added.

NEITI noted that after surviving the slump in the global oil
market in 2008 and 2009, Nigeria’s oil sector rebounded in 2010 with a 49 per
cent increase in total financial flows to $44.94 billion, followed by the peak
of $68.44 billion in 2011.

However, it said flows from the sector have been trending
downward since that peak year, in addition to steady decline in oil production,
with 866 million barrels produced in 2012; 800 million barrels in 2013; 798
million barrels in 2014; 776 million barrels in 2015 and 659 million barrels in
2016.

It said a breakdown of the payment Nigeria got from oil in 2016 showed that the
major earnings for the year came from export and domestic sale of federation
crude oil and gas with $7.97 billion; Petroleum Profits Tax (PPT) with $4.21
billion; and royalty oil with $1.57 billion.

According to NEITI, the major highlight of the 2016 report was
that for the first time in Nigeria’s history, crude oil produced from
Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) overtook output from the Joint Ventures
(JVs).

“In 2016, PSCs accounted for 324 million barrels, while the JVs
accounted for 289.1 million barrels, as against the 320 million barrels for
PSCs and 375.5 million barrels for JVs in 2015.

“PSCs, a production arrangement introduced in 1993, thus became
the leading production arrangement in 2016. The PSCs are mostly offshore, thus
insulated from vandalism and sabotage, and are not constrained by
adequacy/availability of equity funding by the federation.

“This change in production structure pushes to the fore the need
to renegotiate the terms of the PSCs as stipulated in the Deep Offshore and
Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act of 1993 so as to increase
government’s take,” NEITI stated.

The NEITI report also revealed that the total lifting for 2016
was 668.1 million barrels, as against the 780.4 million barrels lifted in 2015,
representing a drop of 14.35 per cent.

It added that out of the total figure for 2016, NNPC lifted
244.6 million barrels – 36.61 per cent, on behalf of the federation while the
oil companies lifted 423.5 million barrels, 63.39 per cent.

It stated that the contribution of the oil and gas sector to
Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dropped from 9.5 per cent in 2015 to 8.3
per cent in 2016.